Our post “You Wanna Fly Where?!” generated good questions. The best way to start answering them is to begin with the paragraph that ended the last post:

“When an airline considers adding service from a small market, such as Springfield, to a big hub, it’s not asking how many people want to fly from Springfield to that hub airport. It’s asking how many people it can connect beyond the hub, and how much revenue will those connecting customers generate?”

We’ve received several questions about US Airways’ apparent interest in merging with American Airlines…first some background.

Last November American filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. American provides our airport with service to Dallas and Chicago. The question we’re being asked: if US Air and American merge, what will that mean for Springfield’s service to Dallas and Chicago?

"United Continental Holdings, Inc. formerly UAL Corporation, announced today that a wholly owned subsidiary has merged with Continental Airlines, Inc., and that Continental Airlines and United Air Lines, Inc. are now wholly owned subsidiaries of United Continental Holdings, Inc., creating a world-class global airline. Today, the common stock of United Continental Holdings, Inc.